2025 NFL Season Thread

[Cobra Mgr]

Dang....Now Jayden Daniels has a knee injury & questionable for Sunday. That's now 4 starting QB's that might be out this weekend.

[Cobra Mgr]

Geno Smith's game plan tonight is prayer.

[Ragnar]

It's hard for me to believe an NFL player doesn't know the ball is live during a kickoff. Especially someone returning the kickoff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inejp443bgI

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

It's hard for me to believe an NFL player doesn't know the ball is live during a kickoff. Especially someone returning the kickoff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Inejp443bgI

It is an offense worthy of termination.

[Cobra Mgr]

Week 2 notes............

...........Indianapolis w/zero punts heading into week 3 has got to be the most bewildering stat of the year so far. Seventeen drives, zero turnovers, one kneel down, 2 failed 4th down conversions, 9 FG's, 5 TD's. Oh, and Daniel Jones @ QB. Wonder what its like for Giants fans to see their dream backfield living the dream elsewhere? Colts currently stand as the only team in the top 5 in off & Def yardage................

.........Xavier Legette's career is reaching a crossroad. The 1st round pick was said to have the light bulb turn on in the offseason. Must not be enough wattage. He has 4 receptions for 8 yds. How is that even possible? His lone reception Sunday went for -2. Meanwhile, Carolina had 3 other WR total 20 catches for 202. XL has arrived at the point where we can call him a bust. Either start being productive or end up out of the rotation........

........What would it have been like in Dallas if they lost to the Giants? I have a lot of NYG friends. And they love to talk trash about Dak Prescott. I had no idea he has now beaten them 14 straight times. This is an example of why I say New York fans are, in general, obnoxious & why I root against their teams. If their fans are that boisterous when somebody owns them, how are they going to act when they actually have reason to boast?...........

.... seeing the Jags in the top 5 in off yds & the Eagles in the bottom 5...............

...So my reward for finishing last in my league last year was the 1st pick this season. I was debating Burrow, Barkley or Lamar. Sentiment was winning me over w/Burrow cause I like him. Plus, those 2 WR1's he has and a defense that will force them to put the ball up. But I finally convinced myself to not over think it. Get Lamar. ****WHEW!!!****..................................

...........IDK about you, but I have just as much trust in Baker Mayfield as I do any other QB on a final drive...........

....The only loss for the NFC West is Seattle vs the Niners............

.........KC Chiefs all alone in the cellar. Seems like a mistake............

.....Does a 1000 yds mean anything anymore, now that the season is 17 games? That's less than 60 yds per game. Back B4 my day, when the season was 12 games, that came out to 83yds per game. It may not sing like "1000" yds, but I think we need to start tracking 1250 yd seasons instead..........

.......What happened to Jeff Hostetler?...........

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Week 2 notes............

...........Indianapolis w/zero punts heading into week 3 has got to be the most bewildering stat of the year so far. Seventeen drives, zero turnovers, one kneel down, 2 failed 4th down conversions, 9 FG's, 5 TD's. Oh, and Daniel Jones @ QB. Wonder what its like for Giants fans to see their dream backfield living the dream elsewhere? Colts currently stand as the only team in the top 5 in off & Def yardage................

.........Xavier Legette's career is reaching a crossroad. The 1st round pick was said to have the light bulb turn on in the offseason. Must not be enough wattage. He has 4 receptions for 8 yds. How is that even possible? His lone reception Sunday went for -2. Meanwhile, Carolina had 3 other WR total 20 catches for 202. XL has arrived at the point where we can call him a bust. Either start being productive or end up out of the rotation........

........What would it have been like in Dallas if they lost to the Giants? I have a lot of NYG friends. And they love to talk trash about Dak Prescott. I had no idea he has now beaten them 14 straight times. This is an example of why I say New York fans are, in general, obnoxious & why I root against their teams. If their fans are that boisterous when somebody owns them, how are they going to act when they actually have reason to boast?...........

.... seeing the Jags in the top 5 in off yds & the Eagles in the bottom 5...............

...So my reward for finishing last in my league last year was the 1st pick this season. I was debating Burrow, Barkley or Lamar. Sentiment was winning me over w/Burrow cause I like him. Plus, those 2 WR1's he has and a defense that will force them to put the ball up. But I finally convinced myself to not over think it. Get Lamar. ****WHEW!!!****..................................

...........IDK about you, but I have just as much trust in Baker Mayfield as I do any other QB on a final drive...........

....The only loss for the NFC West is Seattle vs the Niners............

.........KC Chiefs all alone in the cellar. Seems like a mistake............

.....Does a 1000 yds mean anything anymore, now that the season is 17 games? That's less than 60 yds per game. Back B4 my day, when the season was 12 games, that came out to 83yds per game. It may not sing like "1000" yds, but I think we need to start tracking 1250 yd seasons instead..........

.......What happened to Jeff Hostetler?...........

Shouldn't that read, Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Jeff Hostetler?

[Ragnar]

I think this is the 3rd time Joe Burrow has had a season ending injury.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

I think this is the 3rd time Joe Burrow has had a season ending injury.

According to Wiki the other 2 times happened in week 11. Not week 1. Two other seasons, he had appendicitis & wrist surgery before the season. So he has only one injury free year. They went to the SB in that one, his 2nd yr. So I think we can call him injury prone.

[low]

So much for Baltimore having any sort of competition this year.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

According to Wiki the other 2 times happened in week 11. Not week 1. Two other seasons, he had appendicitis & wrist surgery before the season. So he has only one injury free year. They went to the SB in that one, his 2nd yr. So I think we can call him injury prone.

Yeah, this one is early in the season. But the damage is the same whether he's out week 2 or week 11, season is over for the team.

It also means giving that raise to Trey Hendrickson meaningless. Look for a contender to trade for him. I predict he will not be a Bengal after the trade deadline.

[Déjà Bru]

I think I mentioned earlier in this thread the fellow who kicked a 70-yard field goal in preseason.

"Then, on Sunday, Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey boomed a 64-yard field goal to send the Dallas Cowboys’ game against the New York Giants into overtime. Dallas started the drive at its own 33 following a 30-yard return and needed to move the ball only 21 yards to reach Aubrey’s range."



A 30-yard kickoff return and then needing to gain only 21 yards? Against the Giants? Like a walk in the park, no brainer. But I digress.

I bring this up as another aspect that is restoring the kickoff to exciting prominence, in addition to the 2024 rule changes. With the apparently expanding range of field goal kickers these days (years ago, a 64-yard field goal would have been jaw-dropping), there is even more incentive to try to gain yardage on the kickoff.

From The Athletic:

NFL kickoffs are relevant again. Small tweaks have led to desired excitement

By Mike Jones

If the first two weeks of the NFL regular season are any indication, the kickoff has returned to relevance.

After a multi-year process, which included a redesign and experimentation in 2024, and additional tweaks during the past offseason, the play has regained prominence, with stats spiking league-wide and returns impacting the outcomes of games. Those results are exactly what the NFL’s competition committee and owners hoped for when they approved measures the last two offseasons to replace the traditional kickoff with what is now known as the “dynamic kickoff.”

As a refresher, as the NFL and its teams became more knowledgeable and data dependent in recent years, coaches — in an attempt to avoid the elevated risk of concussions and other serious injuries that occurred on the kickoff — began opting to have their kickers boom the ball out of the back of the end zones for touchbacks. By the conclusion of the 2023 season, the kickoff had largely become a ceremonial play, as the NFL saw a historically low 21.8 percent of kicks returned.

Last offseason, the NFL’s competition committee began looking for ways to make the kickoff safer and more relevant. A trio of special teams coaches, Richard Hightower (Chicago), Darren Rizzi (now with Denver) and John Fassel (now with Tennessee), spearheaded efforts to study the reimagined kickoff formation used by the XFL and tailor it to the NFL.

The league conducted a test drive of that redesign last season. That design placed the kicking team on the opposing 40-yard line, the receiving team between the 30- and 35-yard lines and returners lined up in the “landing zone” (between the 20-yard line and the end zone). Touchbacks were placed at the 30 (5 yards further upfield than previously).

Though the new format led to a slight uptick in action, with an average of 32.8 percent of kickoffs returned in 2024, coaches remained content to kick touchbacks rather than risk giving up lengthy returns. Not a single kickoff was returned in last February’s Super Bowl.

So, under the direction of the league, Hightower, Rizzi and Fassel went back into the lab and suggested additional tweaks to the competition committee, which then presented the measures to owners for approval. A further reimagined “dynamic kickoff” greeted teams this season.

Its biggest tweak: the placement of the ball at the 35-yard line on touchbacks. The belief was that this would further incentivize kicking the ball into the landing zone and charging coverage units with making stops downfield rather than simply surrendering such favorable field position via touchback.

Further scaring teams off from settling for touchbacks is the fact that kickers now boast exceptionally stronger legs than in years past.

In the preseason, Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little successfully blasted a 70-yard field goal. With range like that, a touchback is extremely undesirable because the Jaguars needed less than 15 yards from that ball placement spot to reach Little’s range. Then, on Sunday, Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey boomed a 64-yard field goal to send the Dallas Cowboys’ game against the New York Giants into overtime. Dallas started the drive at its own 33 following a 30-yard return and needed to move the ball only 21 yards to reach Aubrey’s range.

Through two weeks, it appears that the offseason tweaks to the kickoff have worked. In Week 1, 75.6 percent of kickoffs across the league (118 of 156 kickoffs) were returned, according to the NFL’s research department. That represented a dramatic increase from 33.1 percent (57 of 172) in Week 1 of the 2024 season. The 118 returns marked the most in Week 1 all-time and the most since 118 were returned in 2009. Seven of those Week 1 returns went for 40 yards or more, the most in Week 1 since the eight in 2011.

As a result, the average drive starting point was the 30.2-yard line, up from the average starting spot of the 29.4-yard line through Week 1 a year ago.

This seems to be more than just a one-time occurrence, however. Week 2 of the 2025 season saw teams return 80.7 percent (138 of 171) of kickoffs, up from a week prior.

The overall picture after two weeks: 76.9 percent of kickoffs returned (256 of 333), which is up from 30 percent (100 out of 331) in 2024. NFL teams are averaging a combined 201.5 kickoff yards per game after mustering only 83.1 kick return yards in the first two weeks of 2024 and 34.3 yards per game in the first two weeks of 2023.

The NFL also tracks “big play” returns of 40 yards or more, and through two weeks, there have been nine such returns. This past Sunday, one by the New England Patriots’ Antonio Gibson went 90 yards for a touchdown. Only four kickoffs exceeded 40 yards in the first two weeks of the 2024 season, and just two did so in 2023.

It will be interesting to see if the trend continues, but NFL officials believe that the fixes have produced lasting change and are pleased with what they’re seeing, as are the architects of the new-look kickoff.

“We’ve got a real play now,” Hightower said of the impact of the latest changes to the kickoff. “It’s exciting. I believe this change has made our game better in a safer, more competitive way. Over 75 percent return rate, quite a bit of 40-plus-yard explosive (returns).”

P.S. - Occasionally, we dump on officials who don't follow the rules of the game properly. Well, have a look at those NFL Kickoff Rules that I linked to above. My eyes glaze over and my mind wanders just trying to read through them, much less memorize them.

[monkeyman576]

Buffalo's defense played pretty bad against Miami, I never would have guessed they'd give up 21 points and Miami would be 10/15 on 3rd down conversions and be 3/3 in the red zone.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

Buffalo's defense played pretty bad against Miami, I never would have guessed they'd give up 21 points and Miami would be 10/15 on 3rd down conversions and be 3/3 in the red zone.

My guess is that it took 3 weeks for Miami to be Miami once again. We see this almost every year in the first 2 weeks of the season. All teams aren't always prepared. Plus Buffalo doesn't have some great D to begin with.

[Cobra Mgr]

Daniels out, Mariota in for Washington

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

........What would it have been like in Dallas if they lost to the Giants? I have a lot of NYG friends. And they love to talk trash about Dak Prescott. I had no idea he has now beaten them 14 straight times. This is an example of why I say New York fans are, in general, obnoxious & why I root against their teams. If their fans are that boisterous when somebody owns them, how are they going to act when they actually have reason to boast?...........

They'd probably be like Eagles fans.

There is too much being made of this 14 game win streak. It sounds like a lot, but the devil is in the details.

When Dak is healthy, the Cowboys have never sucked. They've been average to good. The Giants have consistently sucked. The best Giants team Dak has faced was back in 2016, losing both games. Since then, the Giants have only made the playoffs once with a 9-7-1 record.

Dak also has a good record against the Eagles. Losing to them when they're good. It's not hard to beat down crap teams. Dak doesn't have any innate ability against either team.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

They'd probably be like Eagles fans.

There is too much being made of this 14 game win streak. It sounds like a lot, but the devil is in the details.

When Dak is healthy, the Cowboys have never sucked. They've been average to good. The Giants have consistently sucked. The best Giants team Dak has faced was back in 2016, losing both games. Since then, the Giants have only made the playoffs once with a 9-7-1 record.

Dak also has a good record against the Eagles. Losing to them when they're good. It's not hard to beat down crap teams. Dak doesn't have any innate ability against either team.

Which goes to my point: Why do my NYG friends think they have room to talk about Dak Prescott?

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Which goes to my point: Why do my NYG friends think they have room to talk about Dak Prescott?

I have no idea. I grew up in Giants country. Probably 90% of my friends and acquaintances are Giants fans. They don't say anything to me about Dak. Especially during the Daniel Jones era. I don't know how they can.

I do see plenty of trash talking on their message board and certain online channels.

[Cobra Mgr]

It's early, but Penix is making the Panthers D look good. Do U know how hard that is?

[Amazin69]

They sure didn't punish the Cats for that muffed punt. And Parker Romo appears to have taken just one week to fall victim to The Curse of Koo.

[Cobra Mgr]

You should rethink your life's direction if you are down 27-0 to the Panthers